Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle is a 1955 social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school. It is based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter.

Synopsis

Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford) is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils, led by an African American student, Gregory Miller (Sidney Poitier), frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier challenges both staff and pupils but the conflict results in anonymous phone call threats against his family. Dadier suspects Artie West (Vic Morrow) as the one making the calls, and challenges him on this.

Cultural impact

Music and teen culture

The film has also been credited with sparking the Rock and Roll revolution by featuring Bill Haley & His Comets's '"Rock Around the Clock", initially a B-side, over the film's opening credits, establishing that song as an instant classic. The music led to a huge teenage audience for the film: their exuberance sometimes overflowed into violence and vandalism at screenings. In this sense, it has been seen as marking the start of a period of visible teenage rebellion in the late 20th century.

In March 2005, the 50th anniversary of the release of the film, and the subsequent rise in popularity of Rock and Roll, was marked by a series of "Rock is Fifty" celebrations in Los Angeles and New York City, involving the surviving members of the original Bill Haley & His Comets. The film itself made its North American DVD debut on May 10, 2005.

Genre

Blackboard Jungle was the first of what would become a popular genre: the film in which an idealistic teacher is confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, who have disengaged from conventional schooling. As so often in later films, issues of race and class lie at the heart of the dynamics. Subsequent films that exploited the theme include: To Sir, with Love (1967; starring Poitier as a black teacher in a white school), Class of 1984 (1982), The Principal (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), Lean on Me and Dead Poets Society (both 1989), Class of 1999 (1990), Dangerous Minds (1995), The Substitute (1996), One Eight Seven (1997), and Freedom Writers (2007)

Cast

The cast included:

• Glenn Ford   Richard Dadier
• Anne Francis   Anne Dadier
• Louis Calhern   Jim Murdock
• John Hoyt   Mr. Warneke
• Richard Kiley   Joshua Edwards
• Warner Anderson   Dr. Bradley
• Sidney Poitier   Gregory Miller
• Vic Morrow   Artie West
• Jameel Farah (Jamie Farr)   Santini
• Dan Terranova   Belazi

This was the debut film for Morrow and Farah and one of Poitier's earliest. Farah later changed his name to Jamie Farr.

Awards

• 1955 Academy Award Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Cimematography; Best Art Direction; and Film Editing

Trivia

• The title Blackboard Jungle was also the name of a 1990s Irish TV quiz show. The show featured two teams of secondary school pupils and was hosted by Ray D'Arcy.
• The title Blackboard Jungle was also the name of a 1980s Hair Metal group based in L.A.
• Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle is a 1973 dub album by The Upsetters

References

Rock Around the Clock and Me by Peter Ford

External links

• http://www.destgulch.com/movies/bjungle/